The Mountain Message in Context — The Kingdom Opened

As we’ve noted previously in this series, the “sermon on the mount” served as Jesus’ primary teaching on the kingdom of heaven. But when did it actually come into play? When were the “gates,” so to speak, opened?

We left off in the biblical narrative in Acts 1. In the next chapter, Acts 2, we find our answer.

On the day of Pentecost, immediately following Jesus’ resurrection, the apostles receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). As a result of this, the apostles begin speaking in tongues. After being accused of drunkenness, Peter stands up to refute these claims, explaining that this was the time of which the prophets had spoken. He points to Jesus as the fulfillment of those prophecies, showing how Jesus fulfilled God’s plan by being put on a cross, a cross on which the Jews had put Him. Convicted of their actions, the crowd sought an answer, “What shall we do?” (2:37) Peter then commands them to repent and be baptized, to receive the Lord’s promise, salvation. The KJV says in 2:47 that the Lord was adding “to the church” those who were being saved. While not every translation (particularly the NASB) uses the word “church” here, the word church means “the called out.” This number who were being saved were being called out from sin. Whether the particular version says it or not, these people were “the church” by definition, and thus part of the kingdom.

So, we see the opening of the kingdom to all those who obeyed the words Peter spoke on that day. These people cannot be added to something that doesn’t exist, so we know that by this time, the kingdom is open. But what of the end of all things? What happens then?

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